Men's 400 metres heatsround 1of 4
With nine heats, the first three in each, plus the next fastest five, would qualify for tomorrow's (Saturday's) quarter-finals. The Bahamas' Avard Moncur had the honor of capturing the first race of the men's athletics competition.
Moncur did it smartly, winning from Lane 1 in 45.23, which turned out to be the fourth quickest time of the morning.
The fastest heat-winner was Alvin Harrison of the United, who ran away with heat 6 in 44.96, pulling Davian Clarke of Jamaica and Robert Mackowiak of Poland to 45.30 and 45.39 respectively. As a first-round effort, Harrison's time is probably second only to his own 44.69 opener in Atlanta in 1996..
Other fast heat winners were Hendrik Mokganyetsi of South Africa in heat 5 in 45.22, Hamdan Al-Bishi of Saudi Arabia in heat 8, also in 45.22 (a national record), and strong favorite Michael Johnson of the U.S., who ran hard only around the second curve and eased into the finish line in 44.25.
But oh, those golden slippers!
Johnson ran wearing a brand-new custom-made running with real gold threads woven into them that, according to the company that made them, cost $5,000 a pair. We're told MJ will use them only in the 400 and the 4x400 here, after which they will presumably be retired to Fort Knox.
The other heat winners were Sanderlei Parrela of Brazil (45.55), Antonio Pettigrew of the U.S. (45.62), Gregory Haughton (45.63), and Jude Monye of Nigeria (45.79).
The only surprise, a minor one, was Britain's erratic Jamie Baulch, who finished last in his heat in 46.52.
Of course, first-round races can't give you much more than who is especially sharp (Harrison) and who isn't (Baulch), but judging from athlete comments as they came off the track, the racing strip will yield personal bests to a good many of the 32 who got through today.
